International Women’s Day
Lesson plan overview
This ESL lesson plan is dedicated to 8th March – International Women’s Day. Students will read about 4 women who have contributed to the equal rights movement (Susan B. Anthony, Frida Kahlo, Simone de Beauvoir, Malala Yousafzai), will watch a video about the history of International Women’s Day and will discuss various topics related to women and gender equality. You can combine this lesson with “What is holding women back at work“, “France makes abortion a constitutional right” and “Idioms: gender equality“.
Speaking: The lesson starts with a discussion about International Women’s Day, its message and its purpose.
Then, students talk about what they know about each of the women they are going to read about (Susan B. Anthony, Frida Kahlo, Simone de Beauvoir, Malala Yousafzai).
Reading: Students read 4 short texts about 4 women who have contributed to the equal rights movement in different ways. Then they work on vocabulary and collocations from the text (grant a right, suffrage, face opposition, ban someone from doing something, campaign for, advocate for). They complete a gap-fill activity to practise these verbs and then complete a few sentences with their own ideas.
Listening: Students watch a video “What is International Women’s Day” and match the dates to the events.
Speaking: Next, students discuss 8 questions about women’s rights and current issues related to gender equality. Lastly, students are asked to research and prepare a short presentation about a woman who inspires them.
You can use the conversation cards for additional speaking practice.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
Pre-class activities
All video-based ESL lesson plans include online pre-class activities, which are FREE and can be completed without registration. Perfect for teachers who wish to embrace the blended learning approach. By providing students with resources and engagement opportunities before the actual class session, educators can foster active participation, enhance comprehension, and optimise in-class discussions.
The pre-class activities are optional: if you choose not to assign them, or your students don’t complete them, it will not disturb the flow of the class. You can find and review the pre-class activities for this lesson plan here:
To send the pre-class activities to your students, copy the link below.
In-class activities
Additional resources
Each video-based lesson plan includes links to additional resources (videos and articles), which are FREE can be found online (in the pre-class activities page. These links aim to extend the learning experience, enabling students to connect classroom knowledge with real-world applications.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
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